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Tory ‘Labour talked to Brussels’ smear isn’t news – but it is a huge own-goal

Tory site Guido Fawkes has just had a huge open-mouth-insert-foot moment with an ‘exclusive’ about an unpublished Labour press release about discussions between the Labour Party and the EU – or ‘Brussels’, since this apparently sounds more damning – on Brexit policy:

This major own goal isn’t news, let alone really ‘exclusive’. It’s a matter of public record that Labour were in Brussels last week and discussing ‘Brexit policy’, as this tweet by the LSE’s Asa Cusack demonstrates:

It’s not like they’ve exactly tried to sneak in ‘under the radar’, either – the Foreign Office tweeted about the reception it had organised to welcome them:

It’s also not news that Labour are planning to negotiate a new customs union with the EU. Jeremy Corbyn announced it last week – and it wasn’t even news then. In spite of the ‘MSM’ trying to spin it as a change of policy, Labour has been planning a (not ‘the’) customs union since the referendum result.

Even more embarrassing than an ‘exclusive’ about things on the public record, though, is how badly out of touch it shows right-wingers to be.

The ‘exclusive’ was clearly published on the assumption that showing Labour to be talking to ‘Brussels’ is somehow a damaging to the party.

But what it actually demonstrates is how seriously Labour are taken internationally and the fact that while the Tories can’t negotiate worth a damn from a position of power, Labour can do more in a couple of chats from opposition than May, Davies and the rest of the Tory excuse for a team has managed in the twenty months since the referendum result.

As the announcement at the same time by the EU that it is suspending Brexit talks with the government, because of the Tories’ uselessness over the Irish border issue, only serves to doubly underline.

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7 responses to “Tory ‘Labour talked to Brussels’ smear isn’t news – but it is a huge own-goal”

Agreed that Guido Fawkes’ operation is depressing stuff. Peer a little deeper into the comments section and it’s vile, sometimes over 1k comments on a story and most of it obscene, some of it surely not far from attracting the old bill. However, it’s useful to recognise the purpose – concoct a US style ‘culture wars’ with outrageous lies that are meant to appeal to base emotions and in the process hope to stem voter leakage to Labour. Unfortunately, then, there very likely are people who believe Guido’s smears – that’s their point, pander to waiverers with ‘you can’t trust JC’ etc. Personally, I don’t see any point in giving GF oxygen, apart from pointing out what the other side are up to.

alex wickham…He’s like one of those lazy-arsed science graduates, who, once they’ve spunked their £100k+ R&D grant on beer & drugs, come up with a hastily written 100 word scrawl on why toast lands butter side down, or other such pointless, fabricated shite.

I don’t see it as a “smear”. Invented or not there is a feeling that Labour can crack the Brexit nut with the least damage done and a close relationship to follow. All we need is a change of government! It’s instructive that the Labour-EU chats are never mentioned in the main media. Starmer is exactly the person best able to negotiate